Railway Budget
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Railway budget of India was the Annual Financial Statement for
Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...
administered by the Railway Board, which handles
rail transport in India Rail transport in India consists of primarily of passenger train, passenger and Rail freight transport, freight shipments along an integrated rail network. Indian Railways (IR), a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways ...
. It was presented every year by the
Minister of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...
, representing the Ministry of Railways, in the
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. The Railway Budget was presented every year, a few days before the Union budget, till 2016.
Modi government The premiership of Narendra Modi began 26 May 2014 with his First swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, swearing-in as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He succeeded Manmohan Singh of the Indian N ...
on 21 September 2016 approved merger of the Rail and General budgets from the next year, ending a 92-year-old practice of a separate budget for the nation's largest transporter.The decision to merge the Railway Budget with the Union Budget was made in 2016, following the submission of a white paper titled 'Dispensing with the Railway Budget' by the NITI Aayog Committee chaired by Bibek Debroy. The paper was presented to Railways Minister
Suresh Prabhu Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu (born 11 July 1953) is an Indian politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1996 to 2009, representing Rajapur in the Lok Sabha. He was also a member of the ''Rajya Sabha'', representing Andhra Pradesh ...
said that this merger proposal was in the long term interest of railways as well as the country's economy and was a colonial practice that needed to be ended.


History

Following the recommendation of the Acworth Committee in 1920–21, headed by British railway economist William Acworth The "Acworth Report" led to reorganisation of railways, the railway finances were separated from the general government finances in 1924. After that in 1924 the budget was announced, a practice that continued till 2016. John Matthai presented the first Railway Budget for Independent India on 20 November,1947 which was Interim Railway Budget and only after 3 months he presented his second Railway Budget on 24 February,1948 where revised estimates showed a fall in earnings of about 8 crores rupees as compared with the budget estimates.
Jagjivan Ram Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), popularly known as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as a minister with various portfolios for over 30 years, making him the List of longest-serving members of the ...
and
Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist, politician and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) serving as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India since 2019. ...
the current Finance Minister under the Modi Government 3.0 have presented the railway budget most 7 times. The first live telecast took place on 24 March 1994.
Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...
, who remained Railways Minister from 2004 to May 2009, presented the railway budget 6 times in a row. In 2009, under his tenure a budget was passed. In the year 1999,
Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 2 ...
(later
Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
of
West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
) became the first female Railway Minister. In 2000, she became the first female to present the Railway budget and is the only woman to do so for two different governing coalitions ( NDA and UPA). In 2014 budget, Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda announced the first bullet train and 9 High-Speed Rail routes. The last Railway Budget was presented on 25 February 2016 by Mr.
Suresh Prabhu Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu (born 11 July 1953) is an Indian politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1996 to 2009, representing Rajapur in the Lok Sabha. He was also a member of the ''Rajya Sabha'', representing Andhra Pradesh ...
.


Gallery

Traditions included the Railway Minister making final changes to the budget, the railway minister carrying the briefcase with the budget documents, and an after budget press meet. File:The Union Minister for Railways Shri Nitish Kumar entering Parliament to present Interim Railway Budget (2004-05) in New Delhi on January 30, 2004.jpg File:The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Lalu Prasad giving finishing touches to the Railway Budget 2005-06 in New Delhi on February 25, 2005.jpg File:The Union Minister for Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee interacting with the media persons after presentation of Railway Budget 2011-12, in New Delhi on February 25, 2011 (2).jpg File:D.V. Sadananda Gowda giving finishing touches to the Railway Budget 2014-15, in New Delhi. The Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha, the Chairman, Railway Board (1).jpg File:The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge arrives at Parliament House to present the Interim Railway Budget 2014-15documents, in New Delhi on February 12, 2014.jpg File:Dinesh Trivedi interacting with the media persons after presentation of Railway Budget 2012-13, in New Delhi. The Ministers of State for Railways.jpg


See also

*
Union budget of India The Union Budget of India, also known as the Annual Financial Statement under Article 112 of the Constitution of India, Indian Constitution, is the country's annual financial plan prepared by the Ministry of Finance (India), Ministry of Financ ...
* Military budget of India


References


Further reading


Railway Budget Speech 2010
Press Information Bureau The Press Information Bureau, commonly abbreviated as PIB, is a nodal agency of the Government of India under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Based in National Media Centre, New Delhi, Press Information Bureau disseminates informati ...
, Govt. of India.
Railway Budget, 2012-13
Press Information Bureau
Railway Budget, 2013-14
Press Information Bureau


External links


Official website of the Ministry of Railways
{{Indian Railways , state=autocollapse Ministry of Railways (India) Union budgets of India *